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2010
Can we know the truth?
Published: 16 January 2010(GMT+10)
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Jesus said to those who believed him, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are
really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’
(John 8:31–32)
We received this feedback from Marc K. (South Africa) after he had read about Mercury
on our website:
Hi. I am a strong Christian.
Now, I would like to just give the reader something to ponder.
I don’t claim the truth, only God knows the full truth.
I read the
argument of Mercury, and I find it fundamentally flawed, but I wish to raise
another point. How do you know that God exists? Or: How do you know that Jesus is
the living God? There is only one answer: because of personal experience of Him.
There are other gods, other bibles other theologies, and who’s to say they
aren’t correct? Personal experience, and God’s revelation to each person
in relationship with Him.
In the same way, how can one deny evolution? The Bible does not say evolution did
not happen, it says God created the heavens and the earth. Whether the means by
which He created them was through evolution or not.
Now, about personal experience; surely anyone who looks at God’s creation
can see how creatures of the earth (including human beings) adapt (evolve) now.
Different races of people physically look different. How does this explain how we
were made in God’s image and likeness? Our soul is made in God’s image
and likeness. Thus, humans could have evolved into the form which allows us to live
in the environment we do, and when the human body was formed perfectly to God’s
specification, He would imbue the human body with a soul which reflects God’s
image and likeness.
I hope this brings us all closer to the truth. God bless!
CMI’s Lita Cosner responds:
Dear Marc
Hi. I am a strong Christian. Now, I would like to just give the reader something
to ponder. I don’t claim the truth,
Including what you’re writing now?
only God knows the full truth.
Certainly, only God knows all truth, but Christians can make truth claims based
on Scripture, because God has revealed His truth to us, and what He has revealed
is completely sufficient for us (2 Timothy 3:15–17).
I read the
argument of Mercury, and I find it fundamentally flawed, but I wish to raise
another point. How do you know that God exists?
There are many things that we can point to as evidence of a Creator; our website
has many articles on design in nature.
Also, I would point to the existence of the Bible
as evidence for God. This collection of 66 writings was written by men with
vastly different vocations, living possibly 1600 or more years apart (depending
on the dating of some of the books), and with vastly different levels of literary
talent. Nevertheless, these 66 books somehow manage to be entirely internally consistent,
meaning that there is no statement in one book that is inconsistent with something
in another book. This phenomenon is such that I would argue it constitutes evidence
for its divine inspiration and origin. Some of our articles in our
God Questions and Answers page might be helpful for you to give further
evidences.
Or: How do you know that Jesus is the living God? There is only one answer: because
of personal experience of Him.
I believe that this is very flawed. Personal experience is a very weak guide for
belief and practice—there are people who claim to have experienced
alien encounters, or who have hallucinated things that they then take as
reality. The Bible’s teaching indicates that we only experience part of reality
(1 Corinthians 13:12), and so it shouldn’t surprise
us if a lot of life seems to not make sense if we try to make sense of it apart
from what God has revealed to us in Scripture.
There are other gods, other bibles other theologies, and who’s to say they
aren’t correct?
I don’t trust in Jesus for salvation because one night I got a spiritual feeling
when I thought about Him; I trust in Jesus because I believe that Scripture’s
witness about Him is completely true, and that He is the only way to be saved.
And this is precisely the problem with the argument from personal experience. I
don’t trust in Jesus for salvation because one night I got a spiritual feeling
when I thought about Him; I trust in Jesus
because I believe that Scripture’s witness about Him is completely true, and
that He is the only way to be saved. He proved His credentials by rising from the
dead, a historically attested
fact. Other religions might well give me ‘spiritual feelings’
if I tried them; Mormons appeal to
“burning in the bosom”. But this is immaterial; the question we have
to ask is, “Is it true?”
Personal experience, and God’s revelation to each person in relationship with
Him.
If this is truly what you believe, I can’t help but question your claim to
be a strong Christian. Christians believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation
(John 14:6, Acts 4:12), and that His sacrifice alone can atone for
sin (Hebrews 10:4–14). If we believe this, then we will
automatically believe that no other religion can offer salvation, because no other
religion affirms this.
In the same way, how can one deny evolution?
Quite easily, as you’d see if you had read our site at all.
The Bible does not say evolution did not happen, it says God created the heavens
and the earth. Whether the means by which He created them was through evolution
or not.
See the Theistic Evolution heading on our Creation Compromises
Questions and Answers page.
Now, about personal experience; surely anyone who looks at God’s creation
can see how creatures of the earth (including human beings) adapt (evolve) now.
CMI agrees that various kinds of animals adapt to their environment, but we disagree
that this constitutes evolution in the molecules-to-man sense, and we show this
convincingly. See for example creation.com/muddy
and our Speciation Questions and Answers
page.
Different races of people physically look different. How does this explain how we
were made in God’s image and likeness? Our soul is made in God’s image
and likeness. Thus, humans could have evolved into the form which allows us to live
in the environment we do, and when the human body was formed perfectly to God’s
specification, He would imbue the human body with a soul which reflects God’s
image and likeness.
The Bible never says that only our souls are in God’s image. The Bible says
that God created man in His image. The ancient Jewish conception of the
human being was that a human being is incomplete and not really human without both
a body and soul. Therefore, when the Bible says that God created man in His image,
they would have seen it to mean the whole human being. Being created in
His image and likeness doesn’t mean that we physically look like God, it means
that in some ways we are like God, and we stand for God in relation to the rest
of creation; we’re His stewards. The
Fall corrupted this image, so we’re not like God in ways we once were,
and our stewardship too often becomes wanton destruction, etc. But that image was
never destroyed. See also Made in the image of God.
I hope this brings us all closer to the truth. God bless!
I hope you now acknowledge that the truth is knowable, and that you will find it.
Jesus Himself said, “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). He Himself is the “Truth, the Way and
the Life” (John 14:6). Everything we can know about Jesus objectively
and reliably is contained in His Word, the Bible, which is “true from the
beginning” (Psalm 119:160). If it were not totally true and reliable,
God’s communication to fallen humanity, and if we could choose which parts
of the Bible were true and which were not, we would have no hope of ever being sure
of anything, as we would not have a way of determining which was truth and which
error.
God bless,
Lita Cosner
Information Officer
Creation Ministries International
Readers’ commentsJennifer P., Australia
Thanks for your excellent reply to that letter. So logical, reasoned and full of grace. You exposed the emotionalism and illogic and the dire consequences of not holding to God’s Truth 100%!
Perhaps a link to the Two Toned Twins article would help too if this not-too- strong-Christian thinks the “different races of people etc. … ” make evolution believable? [Here you go—Ed.]
I pray for you daily and thank you for your excellent work for the Kingdom of God.
Roger P., United Kingdom
However can fallen creatures like ourselves ever have a completely objective view. I can as well argue that my experience is only inside my own head and therefore is entirely subjective and therefore unreliable. Your correspondent should look into his Post Modernism. Nietzsche who took a similar view that all we have is experience teetered on the edge of nihilism all his active life and in the end plunged into that particular abyss, going mad and never recovering. He developed the idea of the Overman who would create his own values and then will them into reality. In this he set the stage for Hitler and others of the same ilk.
I gave myself over to God many years ago when I could see the pointlessness of my own life and my own values. After a while I started to study God’s Word and found like Schaeffer that it is internally consistent, it worked in practice and it answers all the big questions and most of the smaller questions in how to conduct my life. Yes! that was subjective but is also the experience of others and it came about as I decided, “let God be true”. It was obedience to the word of God which is the proof, since disobedience brings calamity that too becomes evidence of the power and the truth of God’s Word. |
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| Ken E. wrote: “I just wanted to drop a note to express my gratitude for the kind of information you supply at the CMI web-site. I love science and find it thrilling to see how it may be used to glorify God and build faith in Him.” Glorify God in His creation.  | | |
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